Combat Analysis: Guacamelee

While everything else about the running is great, the first frame of the animation whenever you run is a very extreme frame and it's kind of distracting. I would have used a more neutral frame, since it would have provided a smoother transition.

Interestingly enough, the defense mechanic functions differently in the air; providing defense input puts the character in a guard pose while they maintain invulnerability. It's not a bad implementation, but to me it feels like a missed opportunity to augment the air game in an interesting way. Perhaps by making the character roll around in the air in some simple way. This air defense is used in various platforming segments to good effect, but this could have been maintained with a more interesting maneuver.

The way the character translates when attacking is very weird because the feet position in the animations stay planted. It feels very floaty as a result. Throw the standing Square combo to see what I mean, and then throw the headbutt (Neutral Circle) to see an animation that should and does have planted feet. Obviously for things like the dash command (Forward Circle) this is more okay, but the feet need to plant properly in order to feel grounded, which is where powerful non-air animations come from.

So the grab is generally a cool mechanic set, but there's one major implementation problem; when you provide grab input while running, you slide really far as the animation plays out. I can see this implementation helping more laid back players, but for me it just feels like I'm on ice. And as far as I can tell nothing else is implemented this way so I'm confused about this.

You cannot cancel your attacks with a jump. This is a bummer because A. it just doesn't feel as good to wait until after the animation is done to jump, B. jump-cancelling out of harm's way can and should be another defense measure, especially in such a platformy beat 'em up, and C. one of the command moves (belly flop thing) is jump based, so I want to jump cancel into belly flop and stuff!

This is a big one; it just doesn't feel very good to hit enemies. A big part of it is the super puny hit effect. It's strange to me that that thing is so weak given the extravagant nature of the other effects. There is also no animation freeze (which is the act of freezing the player and enemy characters for a frame or two in order to drive home the impact. Furthermore, the animations enemies play when they get struck are not nearly as snappy as they need to be.

Not that any game needs this, but the lack of a camera shake on the impacts are another missed opportunity for more sensational attacks.

Despite being a fun system, when it comes to the grabs, I am far more likely to just suplex an enemy (which will most certainly almost always kill them), rather than throw them (which may or may not kill any of the enemies receiving damage in this attack). I think the way this should have been structured is that a suplex will do as much damage as it does now, but a thrown enemy will do as much damage or more if it successfully hits another enemy, and little damage if it does not. The grab kick is a good example of how the throw SHOULD look and act, but a lot of meaning was lost here.

Bigger enemies that get struck but don't play a got-struck animation need visual feedback in order to let the player know they're taking damage.